LETO: Major Support for Prenatal Diagnosis during the 1st Trimester of Pregnancy

03 July 2018

The potential of diagnosing serious congenital malformations has revealed the research study during the ultrasound examinations of the 1^st trimester of pregnancy which took place in LETO Maternity Hospital.

The study was carried out from 2007 to 2017 circa 16,000 women and focused on prenatal examination of fetal anatomy. It revealed that combining new ultrasound markers with the nuchal translucency ultrasound may significantly increase the rates of diagnosing heart and spinal problems during the early stages of pregnancy, i.e. around the first trimester.

The research findings were presented at the 17^th World Congress in Fetal Medicine, hosted in Athens, by Dr Athina Souka, Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Head in Fetal Medicine Unit of the LETO Maternity Hospital. Among others she emphasized that, “New ultrasound markers – such as tricuspid heart valve or posterior brain stem – have helped us to diagnose circa half of the fetuses with severe heart defects and two-thirds of those with spinal defects, during the early stages of pregnancy.

Commenting on the LETO research findings, Mr Elpidoforos Douratsos, Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Chairman of the LETO Scientific Committee added, “At LETO Maternity Hospital, we have been applying all the fetal medicine protocols, according to the latest developments in this field, for over a decade. We have also been following the international trend for diagnosing most congenital disorders in the 1^st trimester of pregnancy, as evidenced by our research findings.”